knitting adventures with elvis the cat

Monday, July 06, 2009

Knitting is back!

I got a bit of knitting done over the weekend, which is remarkable because we had my boyfriend's nephew visiting us for the weekend. He's a wee toddler, and thus requires constant attention and entertaining. While terribly cute and adorable, being around the wee ones sometimes triggers my pessimism about child-rearing. I'm sure I'll do it one day soon enough, but I'm really going to savor my peace and quiet until that time comes.

I've completed bowl #1 of a nesting trio of felted bowls that I'm making for a friend's birthday. I'm now on to bowl #2. I'll post pics of the completed set later this week. I really enjoy making felted bowls. And they are very useful around the house too for gathering loose junk that would otherwise clutter my desk and craft space.

Next up in my queue - a knitted Vespa scooter! This pattern is too cute and absolutely genius. I just hope it will be able to stand up and not look like it's a flat tire scooter. That would be disappointing, especially since this will be a gift. Perhaps I could put a wire skeleton of sorts in each of the wheels to give them more structure. We'll see.

I did an 8-mile run/walk on Saturday morning. Luckily, I was joined by my friend Rob who helped the time and pain go faster. I feel my endurance getting better, and my body doesn't seem to be fighting the training so much lately. This week is a "recovery" week on my marathon training plan, which basically means I'm taking a step back to allow myself to "rest" during training. The plan builds for three weeks, and then has a rest week to allow for recovery. I really like this plan. 4.5 months to go until marathon day!

In addition to my running program, I'm trying to incorporate some cross-training (aka "ass-kicking") into my weekly routine. This morning I got up at the happy hour of 5:30am and went to the gym for "Basic Training". There was nothing basic about it people. It was a military style workout - pushups, jumping jacks, tug-o-war, etc. After the workout, I crawled back to my car whimpering like an injured dog. Washing my hair proved to be challening, and my knees now look like two bruised and swollen boobs on my legs. At least my shoes and toes look cute.